Recruit’s road to UW started in Nigeria
MADISON – Samuel Lateju stepped off the plane for his Junior Day visit with the Wisconsin football program and immediately could see he was in Badger Country.
The UW logos and merchandise inside the terminal at the Dane County Airport seemed everywhere. People wore Badgers gear.
Then 6-foot-5, 230-pound outside linebacker from The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey hopped in a car and rode to campus. Along the way UW continued to make an imprint on the city impressed him.
And when he got to campus ... well, you get the idea.
“I was like people in Madison are really into just their state. .... I saw so many people supporting their team,” he said.
The start to Lateju's first trip to Madison set the tone for his visit, vibes the Badgers coaching staff kept going as they showed him the football facilities and met with him one-on-one. Little did they know that by the end of that day, he was ready to commit.
He sat on that feeling for a few weeks to be sure and announced his commitment to the Badgers March 4. He was the eighth known commitment in a 2025 class that now has nine
“At first it wasn’t my favorite. I didn’t like football that well. I was skinny. I sucked, but it was the first time and (my friend) kept pushing me and I started loving football.” Samuel Lateju, 2025 UW football recruit and native of Nigeria, on how he got into football at The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey.
known recruits.
Of the group, Lateju has easily come the farthest. His journey started in Nigeria almost three years ago.
“Obviouly (outside linebackers) coach (Matt) Mitchell feels he has all the things and he can teach him and develop him even farther,” Lawrenceville coach Napoleon Sykes said. “But I think what Coach Mitchell really loved about Sam was that he’s from Nigeria, he’s come here on his own, he’s navigating this stuff on his own. He’s a super-mature kid. He’s faced adversity. There’s a lot to like about Sam as a person.”
Here is what you need to know Lateju.
Sam Lateju is considered a three-star prospect
Lateju chose Wisconsin after making visits to Boston College, Penn State and Maryland. He announced 14 other offers on X, including ones from Maryland, Duke, Wake Forest and Pitt.
Rivals and 247sports list him is a three-star prospect. ESPN and On3 have not rated Lateju yet.
Consider the lack of acknowledgment a sign of how quickly the stock of the Lagos native is rising.
How Sam Lateju went from Nigeria to New Jersey
Lateju’s emergence as a Division I prospect was far from planned or expected. Last season was just his second season of organized football.
He came to the sport almost by accident. A friend who played football while attending school in the United States returned to Lagos on break and was looking for a workout partner. Despite his preference for soccer or basketball, Lateju joined in, which eventually led to visits to a local flag football team’s practice.
“At first it wasn’t my favorite. I didn’t like football that well,” he said. “I was skinny. I sucked, but it was the first time and (my friend) kept pushing me and I started loving football. I even went to practice without him. That is when everything started to change.”
Lateju’s passion for the game happened in an area of the country where there has been a push to grow football.
The country had 11 players in the NFL this past season, including seven NFL players who are from Lagos. As a result, a pipeline to get athletes with potential from there to the United States has developed.
Lateju caught the eye of one of the flag football coaches, who through a couple of steps connected with Sykes. Sykes, who has worked on college and NFL coaching staffs, had taken to developing guys like Lateju in his role as head coach at the boarding school.
“At this level I have the ability to take kids who would benefit from being at our school,” said Poe, who also coached 2024 UW recruit Raphael Dunn at Lawrenceville. “I think they can grow into a really good player, but more important, how can this journey affect them in a holistic way. Football is cool, but it ends at some point.
“And so getting to see Sam, I didn’t get to see him play football. It was a little bit of him catching the ball and moving around. No equipment. He was a 6-3, 184-pound kid, but really what I felt in love with was the type of kid he was.”
Not only did Lateju arrive without real football experience, he also didn’t have a position. It was only through trial and error that he landed at outside linebacker, a decision that almost immediately paid off in scholarship offers. His first one came from Pitt last April.
The attention from schools inspired him.
“I was like it’s time to start playing like somebody who gets offers and I just started going to the weight room even more, going to the field even more,” he said. “Then junior season happened and I felt way more like I didn’t have Impostor Syndrome. When I was getting offered my sophomore year I had this Impostor Syndrome like I should have played like this and what if I’m not good enough. But then I put in so much work over the summer that I was comfortable.”
Lateju shows maturity beyond years
Lateju, 17, has no relatives in the United States, so he didn’t have the usual family support as he went through the recruiting process, particularly on his visits. He took his trips to Maryland and Penn State with team members and went to Boston College with a friend. He made his Junior Day visit to Wisconsin alone.
“Back home I was in a boarding school also, so it wasn’t something that I’m not used to,” he said about being on his own. “I was just used to the people, the food, the environment (at my old school). Everything else is different (here). I feel like the alone part I was used it, it was just everything else.”
Sykes believes Lateju’s background helped him have no preconceived perceptions of the program’s recruiting him. Lateju, meanwhile, said he really wasn’t focused on getting recruited when he came to this country. The selling point for he and his family was school.
“Coming here I didn’t think I would be that good. … I could have gone to a D-III and still been happy,” he said. “Just the experience of being here and getting a free education and playing football also was really great anywhere. I didn’t know much about the football college level.”
How Lateju will fit in at Wisconsin
Lateju was recruited to play the outside linebacker spot on the boundary or short side of the field.
What makes him such an intriguing prospect is not only his size and length, but his inexperience. He hasn’t played long enough to develop bad habits and like anything that is new, he continues to improve quickly.
Despite that inexperience, Lateju has displayed a football IQ that will allow him to absorb concepts at the college level, Sykes said.
“He doesn’t have as many physical reps and as he gets more reps, he’s going to be better,” Sykes said. “That is what I’m excited about. If you watch him over the last two years, he just gets better every week at something. He hasn’t plateaued yet and that is pretty natural for a kid who hasn’t done a ton of it. He’s still in that growth phase.”
Some of that growth comes from playing in a program like The Lawrenceville School where players are being exposed to concepts even if they aren’t used much in games. For instance, Lateju’s highlight tape shows him mostly playing at the line of scrimmage and making plays in the backfield or pressuring the quarterback, but in practice he is working on pass coverage concepts.
“I feel like I have so much to grow from,” he said. “Even after the season, (I’ll see things) and I’m like I’m going to put that in my pocket. I’m going to put that in my bag. I’ve got to get that. There is so much I’ve got to learn. And I think I’m very coachable.”